Pirate Bay sinks under electric storm

The Pirate Bay website has been knocked offline due to what it claims to be a power failure.

On Monday a Dutch court temporarily banned the infamous BitTorrent tracker site's activities in the Netherlands, following legal action brought by the pro-copyright lobby outfit Stichting Brein in late July.

A judge ordered TPB's operators, Fredrik Neij, Gottfrid Svartholm Warg and Peter Sunde, to "cease infringing the copyright of the members" of the group, which represents the Dutch recording industry.

The three men were reportedly told to immediately shutter the service in the Netherlands or face a daily fine of €30,000, or up to €3m, during an interdict that was set to last for the next two months.

However, Brein agreed to suspend the fine for the month of August to give TPB time to reopen the case, after its founders said they would dispute the verdict.